February 8, 2011

Orioles headed back to WBAL (with statement from team)

After a four-season run on 105.7 The Fan, the Orioles have decided to return their radio rights to WBAL-AM 1090, the Hearst-owned station that has had a partnership with the club for much of the past six decades.

The financial arrangements of the three-year deal haven’t been disclosed. Orioles representative Alan Rifkin is scheduled to appear on WBAL tonight to announce the agreement, and the team issued a statement acknowledging the partnership.

The decision, which comes after several months of the organization's shopping its radio rights, is somewhat surprising, considering the rocky parting between the Orioles and WBAL after the 2006 season.

WBAL had served as the club’s flagship station for 19 consecutive years when the club moved to the CBS-owned 105.7 for the start of the 2007 season, the first time in nearly 40 years the Orioles weren’t heard on the AM dial.

At the time, team officials cited the exposure the organization could get on CBS’ wide range of stations as one of the determining factors in the move. The club liked that 105.7’s sister stations, which include WJZ-ESPN 1300 AM, Mix 106.5 FM and WLIF 101.9 FM, crossed different demographics.

The prevailing thought was that the Orioles would remain with 105.7 despite their four-year deal expiring after the 2010 season. The two sides did engage in several rounds of negotiations, but they were unable to hammer out a deal.

That led to the Orioles’ return to WBAL, the team’s radio home for 41 of its 57 seasons in Baltimore. WBAL partnered with the Orioles from 1957 to 1978 and again from 1988 to 2006.

The station is now the flagship of both the Orioles and the Ravens, which could create conflict during September, when the baseball season is winding down and the NFL season is starting up. WBAL does have a sister station in 98 Rock (97.9 FM).

The change is not expected to affect the on-air talent. Joe Angel and Fred Manfra, the radio voices of the Orioles, are employed by the club and are expected to return for the 2011 season. Angel and Manfra have teamed in the booth for the past eight seasons.

Here is the Orioles' news release:

The Orioles today announced that they have signed a multi-year deal with 1090 AM WBAL Radio to become the club’s radio flagship station. The partnership with WBAL Radio marks the 42nd year since Baltimore returned to the major leagues 57 years ago that the station has originated Orioles broadcasts. Orioles games were most recently heard on WBAL Radio in 2006. The station first broadcast O’s games in 1957, the club’s fourth season.

“We are excited to reestablish our relationship with WBAL Radio,” said Orioles Director of Communications Greg Bader. “Both the Orioles and WBAL Radio have a long and proud tradition in this region and we are pleased to once again call them our flagship as we look forward to an exciting 2011 season.”

WBAL Radio will broadcast all 162 Orioles 2011 regular season games, as well as a selection of spring training contests. Joe Angel and Fred Manfra will return to call the action on the Orioles Radio Network.

Good news. Now maybe WBAL will return more of its sports focus to the O's instead of treating them as second-class citizens to the Ravens...which was understandable under the circumstances. Now if they could only come up with some non-irritating on-air sports pesonalities.

First Guerrero and now this! Angelos must have visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. The departure from WBAL 1090, a 50,000 watt station was absolutely the worst marketing move the Orioles ever made, and they know it. All of the little 5,000 watt stations that picked up the broadcasts in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania were good for about 30 miles from the broadcast center.

I work in Timonium and live near Harrisburg and had to change stations three times to pick up the broadcasts on the way home. WBAL carries all the way to Reading Pa. during the daytime. 105.7 dies at the Maryland line and you can't pick up 910 out of Hanover Pa until you are nearly to York. Same when you travel south. The Orioles lost a lot of distant fans over that stupid move. WBAL can be heard all the way to Maine on a clear night.

Common sense seems to be invading the warehouse after all of these years. Either that or PA has decided to make amends before he goes to see that great class action litigator in the sky.

@Dan could we be seeing the Ravens heading back to CBS Radio when there Hearst deal is over i would look for that to happen. Hearst does not have the properties in Baltimore to properly cover both teams.

Oh my goodness will 2011 be the season of Orioles Miracles or what? Wow, maybe there really are some people in the front office that do have some common sense to go back to Orioles roots.

Keep up our voices Orioles fans - we're getting louder.

Welcome back WBAL. Now maybe I can get some decent radio reception at the ballpark unlike 105.7 where decent reception was very spotty. I would have to turn my head in a certain direction to listen to the game.

Hey can another miracle be repeated to bring back Chuck Thompson, Bill O'Donnell and Rex Barney too (just kidding)?

Fine by me. Those of us in western Carroll can't get the 105.7 the fan. It is overtaken by a PA rock station, so we always listen on the am side. Also, work in Frederick County and 105.7 never came in there either.

Totally stinks . . . the "insert owner's name here" Steel Mill in Sparrow's Point can't pick up the AM stations. I'll miss listening to the games on FM. That is if we every return to work from being laid off . . .

I liked WBAL when I drove a car that was automatic. I have 5-speed now and all I get is static when I'm driving. I do remember listening to the games on WBAL all the way up in the Hockessin, Delaware area during a day game.
Luckily I still have my trusty round ball AM radio from the early 1970's. I listened to every game back in the 1979 season with it.. It is a Panasonic Panapet 70.

Hurray! I'll be able to listen to O's baseball again without always having to wait for them play the Sox or Yankees! After dark I can get WBAL up here in Vt.
I know from experience though that it can be frustrating to hear it in some parts of the Balto. area. That seemed at least as true of 105.7 however, it seemed whenever I came south I always had a hard time finding any station I could catch the game on and actually drive around for a few miles without losing it.
It would be nice if the O's could find both a good strong flagship station, which they have once again, as well as a nice big network of smaller satellite stations to spread the broadcast around. There are more O's fans outside of the immediate Balto area than many might think.

This is good news for me in VA Beach. ESPN FM 94.1 in VA Beach supposedly is part of the O's network but only broadcasts a few games a year. They carry all the Tides games. On a clear night with WBAL at least now I have a chance.

I guess the RAVENS are headed back to 105.7 after their contract ends after the 2011 season. That is where it belongs anyway, they do a much better job covering the RAVENS than WBAL does. Plus I like Scott better than Gerry.

I did like the stronger signal on 105.7 than WBAL. Both stations have spotty coverage here and there. My issue was I liked to stream 105.7 online, but when there was an Orioles game on the actual radio, they didn't stream the game online. How does that make sense?

I try to avoid WBAL because of it's programming of talk shows supporting anger. The broadcasters are mediocre. Fred Manfra still gets the counts confused and sometimes cannot identify the players. It's a mediocre program that's changing stations.

Good move. 105.7 came in weak in Reisterstown. Now bring in Tom Davis, and Dave Johnson for pre and post game shows and Phil Wood on a call in show. And, bring back Mr Boh as a sponsor. Ain't the beer cold.

Joe Angel is terrible. I don't care that are moving back to WBAL, but Joe has got to go. Fred is an OK color commentator, but hearing Joe makes me want to puke every time I hear him get more excited when the other team scores or hits a HR.

Being almost 2000 miles or so from Camden Yards, I don't really care if the O's are on WBAL or any other station, but, I do know that 50,000 watts carries a long way. As a kid in central Ohio in the mid-60's, I would go out with my Dad in the car to a local hilltop and just barely get WBAL on the radio, maddeningly wavering in and out, especially out during a tense moment. I, too, listened to KMOX from St. Louis late at night, as well as Ernie Harwell in Detroit, and occasionally the Houston Colt .45's, on WWL from New Orleans. I know that in the Denver area (I'm 50 miles north), when the Nuggets and Avalanche switched to FM, I stopped listening. Or, rather, I had to: there is NO signal at all. I would certainly think WBAL could be heard clearly for at least 50 miles from Baltimore, maybe three or four times that far. It would be great if we could listen online to whichever radio station is the team's flagship, and not have to buy mlb.com radio.

This is amazing news for me personally...living in Rochester means I have to shell out for an online package, but getting the games back on 1090 means that I can spend those summer nights driving around listening to Joe Angel---who, yes I would love to be more excited---telling me about the O's putting another one in the....WIIIN column!

MY oriole season just took its first real downturn.. Wbal is useless on the eastern shore. If I am not at home to watch the orioles I might as well forget about the game if Wbal is as poor as always over here.

I heard this news live on WBAL's "Sportsline" tonight. It then turned into one of the all-time best episodes of the show. The host, Brett Hollander, was clearly fired up about the deal. It was great to hear that kind of passion about the Orioles-WBAL reunion tour. Another reason to feel good about this season!

It felt great to hear the news on WBAL tonight, starting with the classic WBAL Orioles jingle ("Feel the thrill, Baltimore! Feel the thrill, Orioles!"). Great way to introduce it. I know you can get WBAL on the way back from the Jersey shore, and I have even listened to games in the mountains of western PA. Finally, we'll be able to get the games in Carroll County again (no more settling for 1280 AM-WHVR out of Hanover!).

I more or less grew up with the Jim Hunter/Fred Manfra team calling the games (at least, those are the years I remember most clearly, I guess I didn't start listening avidly until after Miller left...blast!). Miller is one of the best, and it would be great to have him back. I thought Hunter was good on play-by-play, but I think Joe Angel is an even better play-by-play man.

That is why I have to respectfully disagree with the criticism of Angel. He does an excellent job. I don't think he shows unreasonable excitement at the other team's good plays or home runs. Rather, he conveys to you the excitement of the game (I hate it when the Yankees hit a home run at Camden Yards, but I don't mind if the announcer doesn't use a tone that's flat as a pancake to describe the moment...just as long as you save the energy for the big O's moments, which Angel does).

He doesn't use 50 words to describe the action when 5 will do. The way he tells the story of the game makes him fun to listen to, and I can enjoy an Orioles game even when they are struggling. He knows when to be quiet and let the crowd noise tell the story, as well. His good humor enhances the broadcast, and the stories he will throw in are fun. His calls are also clever and memorable ("Wave it bye-bye!" "Hasta la vista, pelota!" "Orioles...are in the WIN COLUMN!"). Joe Angel is just very good at the job.

As for Fred Manfra, based on listening to him for over 13 years, I do think he is a nice guy and probably a likeable person. I cannot recall any instances of Fred acting arrogant or "know-it-all," and I think he has a genuine enthusiasm for Orioles baseball.

That said, Fred often says too much in trying to describe the action, even though quite often "less is more." He will identify a given player as making a catch or play, and then have to correct himself for identifying the wrong player. The most vexing habit is when he calls a routine flyball as though it were a home run (Example [not a literal one, just a characterization of his style]: "The 2-2 pitch to Adam Jones, swing and a high fly ball!--It's going, going, GOING...CAUGHT by Nick Swisher!"). Aaagh! Fred, a routine fly-out is not a home run, don't call it like one (often, you'll find out from the TV broadcast that it wasn't even close, dying before the warning track). By contrast, Joe Angel would say something like "It's hit hard, it might have a chance," without overhyping it. I like Fred, but there is just no comparison between Angel and him.

Joe Angel and Jon Miller reunited in the booth would be my Orioles dream team. But, the current team is fine with Angel and Manfra (a pity they never went with Joe Angel and Jim Hunter as the announcing team, that could be really good).

Its good to see the Orioles have decided to go with a respected radio station over an unstable FM signal. CBS management has no idea what they are doing most of the time. First the bring KMS in and destroy that show, Then they move The Ed Norris Show to mornings and proceed to destroy THAT show. Lets not forget the Anita Marks debacle. Then they replace her with someone who has even less talent than her. Mark my words within a year 105.7 will be playing country music...and doing a poor job at that.

Great news, I start to lose 105.7 on 140 crossing into Carroll County in Reisterstown! Please keep Bruce the HAM Cunningham and his cheesy porno mustache at 105.7. Cant stand him, what a ham. Biggest ego in Baltimore sports history, except maybe Palmer

Jeff-
A little off-topic here, but Denver Post is more or less confirming suspicions that the Rangers plan was to trade Michael Young, then pursue Vlad. Seems the O's did the right thing by stepping it up a notch.

From mlbTradeRumors.com:

"The Rockies are no longer among the potential trade partners to land the Rangers' Michael Young, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post."

"A potential deal between the Rockies and Rangers was hampered not necessarily by money, blogs Renck, but by the Rangers' need to acquire a "bigger name player" than Eric Young Jr., whom they had targeted earlier this offseason. Further complicating matters was Vladimir Guerrero's recent agreement on a contract with the Orioles, Renck notes, leaving Texas less inclined to compromise on its financial or prospect demands in a Young swap without a suitable replacement to handle their DH duties (Twitter links). The Rangers' plan was, Renck notes, to spend the money they saved on Michael Young's offloaded contract on a DH type, but that option has dried up."

Dave, I had commented about this to Jeff the other day. TX has really ended up with egg on their face. Vlad got tired of sitting around and waiting, the Rockies got tired of being jerked around in trade discussions, but now Young's fed up and really wants to be traded.

The O's were smart to make a move and get it done with Vlad. If the O's would have continued to lowball Vlad, TX may have been able to move Young and sign Vlad back, and they could have pulled their cute manuvers off. TX was banking on the O's sitting still on a lowball bid, the O's finally moved quick and got it done.

Now TX appears to need to mend fences with Young or find a new trading partner. They could call up the Yankees, since those two clubs are getting along so well...

If WBAL would broadcast the O's games on 98 Rock they would get great coverage out here in southern PA and much of central MD. Neither WBAL or 105.7 FM have any signal strength out here after dark. WBAL is the better choice in the daytime though. Old WTTR FM, which is now the 98 Rock signal, always had the best O's coverage when you got outside of the city.

Only really matters to me when I'm in the car, MASN and the big screen TV work well enough at home...

Glad to hear this. I live in Westminster, and couldn't get the Fan in clearly because the Harrisburg 105.7 X competed with the signal. Annoyed the crap out of me for 4 years. I had to resort to WTTR which is a terrible local signal.

To the poster who wanted to know about Best of Sirius on XM, as of last season, the Best of Sirius did not include the MLB package. You had to have an XM unit to get the baseball games. Maybe that's different for the 2011 season, though.

And AFAIK, the O's will be on ESPN980 down here in DC again.

Finally, I'm glad I've discovered this blog, the WaPo has discontinued all O's coverage since the Nats came to town, disenfranchising everyone in DC who's been an O's fan for 35 years.

Here's the deal on this - WBAL needs to understand that the pre-game / post game shows are the only place to get insight on game night - particularly from Dave Johnson. Manfra is very decent on color but is pure vanilla, and Angel is barely ordinary. The Os better keep the pre and post gamers or I am PO'd.

The Baltimore Sun confirms what DCRTVers have noticed, that the Peter Angelos-owned Mid-Atlantic Sports Network has pulled its TV simulcast of Scott Garceau's (left) afternoon radio show, which airs on CBS-owned 105.7 The Fan, WJZ-FM. That comes at the same time that Angelos's Orioles end their flagship station relationship with WJZ-FM, in favor of Hearst's WBAL-AM (see yesterday's DCRTV newsblurb). On its website, MASN says that it will be making "significant changes" to its afternoon line-up in the upcoming weeks. The Sun's Dan Connolly reports that a source said that while the timing coincided with the Orioles' switch in flagship stations, the decision to end the simulcast was not related to the deal and had been discussed for months.

Since the end of last season, DCRTV has been running rumblings that the Orioles weren't happy with their flagship of CBS's WJZ-FM, 105.7 The Fan, and might be going back to Hearst's WBAL-AM, 1090. Well, it has happened. The Baltimore baseball team will be hopping to WBAL after four years on WJZ-FM. WBAL has been the Orioles flagship for 19 years, until the team moved to 105.7 in 2007. "We're thrilled to have the Orioles on 1090 AM, where they belong," says WBAL radio's Vice President/General Manager Ed Kiernan. "This is the extension of a terrific tradition. For 41 of their 57 seasons, WBAL radio has been the flagship for the Orioles. With our 50,000-watt signal, we can blanket the east coast with our broadcasts." Under the terms of the agreement, WBAL radio will broadcast 10 spring training games and all 162 regular season games. WBAL radio will launch a new Orioles "On Deck" show, hosted by Brett Hollander, prior to the games. Hollander will also broadcast his nightly sports program live from Florida for two weeks, in each of the three seasons covered by the new contract. In addition, during the off-season, WBAL radio will broadcast a weekly "Hot Stove" program. "The decision, which comes after several months of the organization's shopping its radio rights, is somewhat surprising, considering the rocky parting between the Orioles and WBAL after the 2006 season," writes Dan Connolly at baltimoresun.com. "The prevailing thought was that the Orioles would remain with 105.7 despite their four-year deal expiring after the 2010 season. The two sides did engage in several rounds of negotiations, but they were unable to hammer out a deal." DCRTV has reported that Orioles owner Peter Angelos simply didn't like the management team at CBS Radio in Baltimore - Dave Labrozzi and Bob Philips - and liked the Hearst WBAL team better. WBAL radio is now the hometown flagship for both the Orioles and the Ravens, which also air on Hearst's WIYY-FM, 98 Rock. Also, as DCRTV has reported, Joe Angel and Fred Manfra are expected to return to the Orioles radio booth.

What is this new "On Deck" show with Brett Hollander (see Fang's post)? Is that going to be the pregame show? Hollander is a good choice -- he always sounds psyched about the O's and would pump up listeners before the game. He's good at interviewing, too. He doesn't feed lines to the athletes, like Hunter does (so annoying!!!).

it's good to see that the orioles are back on wbal where they belong & never should have left in first place! well, besides the o's returning to am airwaves the cardinals are returning to kmox where they belong too! it's going to be nice most nights to pickup/ hear the o's on wbal, cards on kmox 1120, phillies on wpht 1210 am, mets on wfan 660 nyc, yankees on wcbs 880 nyc, nats on wfed 1500, reds on wlw 700, cubs on wgn 720, redsox on wtic 1080 hartford ct! i'm so glad that baseball can still be heard on am radio, not a fan of baseball on fm radio!

Do they know yet what the network will look like? Is 980 in D.C. still on board? What about the rest of MD, VA, etc.?

Most important, is the stupid rule still in place where Orioles personnel aren't allowed to talk to any other media outlets aside from the flagship? Maybe WNST would be a little kinder to the Orioles if the team actually allowed their players/coaches etc. to appear on Nestor's station (and everyone else's). Just a thought.

FM radio was supposed to end AM broadcasts. There was a time when people thought that television would be the end of radio. VCRs came along and portable cassettes, so then radio was doomed and broadcast TV seemed ever more accessible. Recently, people thought that there would come a day were terrestrial television would become obsolete and broadcast stations would not be profitable as people would eventually just start watching the hundreds of stations that they get on cable rather than the handful they get over the air. Tapes and then CDs and now MP3s didn’t prove to end radio. News talk saved AM and you now find more talk on FM than music on AM. Now each market has a few AM stations that carry bigger audiences than some of the smaller FM stations in the same market. Satellite radio didn’t catch on quite as big as people thought so the future of radio appears much safer. Now people can get every MLB game all season over the Internet for about the cost of one month of cable. You can now watch movies and TV series on demand through various websites. Not to mention the endless vault of other junk online. Local news and sports are broadcast for free on HD. It’s starting to look like ditching cable for a good Internet speed (and they get faster by the day) is the way to go, television antennas are starting to look like the cutting edge, rather than items destined for a museum. Internet technologies available on your phone compete with terrestrial radio, but you gotta wonder where that will be in 15 years.
Each summer I like to park the car somewhere and see what AM stations I can get. I’ve listened to news out of Canada before. I caught an Orioles/Indians game off a station in OH. Read some of these posts, getting a baseball game far out of market, trying to hear what’s going on over the crackle and interference, it’s so Americana! It’s one of those things that make baseball so special. Football is starting to get like NASCAR, more an event more than a sport. There are no small town radio stations broadcasting football games. They’re on one middle of the dial FM station, not that it matters because it’s a television event anyhow. NBA and NHL games are also usually only on big market AM stations with little in the way of networks.
I’m happy about this. It just feels as though Baltimore baseball is going back to where it belongs. The AM dial and the front page of the newspaper.

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About the bloggers

A Baltimore native, Dan Connolly has been covering sports for 14 years, and baseball and the Orioles for 10 seasons, including the past six with The Sun. His first year covering baseball on a daily basis was Cal Ripken Jr.'s final season as a player. It's believed that is just a coincidence.

Steve Gould is an assistant sports editor for The Sun, overseeing Orioles coverage. The Columbia native joined The Sun as a sports copy editor in 2006 after graduating from the University of Maryland.

Peter Schmuck has been covering baseball for a lot longer than Steve Gould has been on this earth. He is now a general sports columnist, but has been a beat writer covering three major league teams (the Dodgers, Angels and Orioles) and also spent a decade as the Sun's national baseball writer. If you want more of his insight on the Orioles and other sports issues, check out his personal blog -- The Schmuck Stops Here.